The April through June period saw stocks continue their bounce from early-March lows. By quarter’s end, the advance had begun to falter, but not before adding another 12% of gains for the Dow Industrials, cutting their year-to-date decline to about -2%. International developed economies saw their markets advance some 15% (MSCI EAFE) and reach a year-to-date positive return of about 3%.

Encouraging as these numbers are, even they don’t fully represent the resurgence of investor enthusiasm as the quarter’s economic measures began to indicate a moderation in the rate of national and worldwide economic decline. This growing perception led to sharp rebounds in the more speculative areas of the markets, with small capitalization US stocks (Russell 2000) advancing nearly 21% and reaching positive territory for the year. The NASDAQ gained 20%, bringing its year-to-date gain to over 16%. Emerging nations’ stock markets

MONDAY, JULY 6, 2009

CoreStates 2009 Q2 Review & Outlook

The April through June period saw stocks continue their bounce from early-March lows. By quarter’s end, the advance had begun to falter, but not before adding another 12% of gains for the Dow Industrials, cutting their year-to-date decline to about -2%. International developed economies saw their markets advance some 15% (MSCI EAFE) and reach a year-to-date positive return of about 3%.

Encouraging as these numbers are, even they don’t fully represent the resurgence of investor enthusiasm as the quarter’s economic measures began to indicate a moderation in the rate of national and worldwide economic decline. This growing perception led to sharp rebounds in the more speculative areas of the markets, with small capitalization US stocks (Russell 2000) advancing nearly 21% and reaching positive territory for the year. The NASDAQ gained 20%, bringing its

2009 Observations

January 2 2009

Much (probably too much) has been and will be written about the many economic challenges currently facing our nation and the world, the probable responses of our government and the world to these challenges, and the possible effects both may have on investors. I have nothing to add regarding the specifics of these challenges. But, I do see several issues that are both likely to have a major influence on our financial fortunes in 2009 and beyond, and that have been at best under-acknowledged to date.

In the weeks and months ahead, I will be monitoring these and other issues and sharing my perspectives on them. If you would like to follow these musings and possibly add your thoughts thereon, simply sign on below. You can unsubscribe at any time, and we will not bother you with More >

We all know the formula for investment success is to invest early, invest often and invest broadly. These are the core principles of achieving wealth through saving and investing. Do this diligently over an entire working career and you are virtually assured of a lifetime of financial security. But, for those who have already done this, or who for any other reason find themselves responsible for a substantial sum of money, the rules are a little different. The focus must change from accumulating assets to protecting wealth and preserving purchasing power. And, the mentality of the investor must change. Investing “right” still matters, but the greater concern must be not investing “wrong.” At this stage, mistakes can be lethal to your financial security, largely because the time needed for recovery from any setbacks

Read this and make a copy for your files in case you need to refer to it someday. Maybe we should all take some of his advice! A corporate Attorney sent the following out to the employees in his company.

1. Do not sign the back of your credit cards. Instead, put “PHOTO ID REQUIRED…”2. When you are writing checks to pay on your credit card Accounts, DO NOT put the complete account number on the “For” line. Instead, just put the last four numbers. The credit card company knows the rest of the number, and anyone who might be handling your check as it passes through all the check processing channels won’t have access to it.3. Put your work phone # on your checks instead of your home Phone. If you have a PO Box use that instead of your home